Bringing Hope to Drought-Affected Graziers

As published on the Stock Journal's website: By Kiara Stacey

First published December 21 2023

Graziers in the Orroroo and nearby areas welcomed the arrival of 23 trucks on Wednesday 20 December 2023, loaded with grain, straw and hay with some travelling from as far as Jinderra, NSW.

Organiser David Humphris (Laura Ag Bureau President) said it was a community project which would help carry 18 trucks of straw and hay and five roadtrains of grain.

"All of the straw and hay has been donated from people from Laura and greater Georgetown area," he said. "And I've got a couple coming from Clare - but if I get a call from someone at Middleton who says they want to bring a load - then they're coming.

"All the barley straw was a byproduct of harvest - instead of spreading it over the paddock, they've turned off the spinners on the back of the header and we've baled it and put string around it."

Mr Humphris said the Orroroo area was "intermediate country where farmers knew how to survive in a normal year or even a slightly below average year".

"When they send a surplus stock to Dublin, and they get a bill for the freight and the yard fees and the price they get for the stock doesn't even cover half of it, it makes the economics of farming very hard," he said.

"The sheep price will recover and despite the current rain we are having - these farmers still won't be saved.

"A summer rain wrecks the dry feed you did have and brings up a pile of summer weeds that nothing will eat.

"The feed is going to people that have probably got too many stock on hand for how the season has turned out and the only reason they've got too many stock on it is because they can't sell their surplus."

He said the community affected with a lack of feed has just got to carry the stock for two or three months to get over the little hurdle and get a viable result.

Orroroo farmer Grant Champman is just one of the 20 farmers who will be benefitting from the stock feed run. "It will be a nice Christmas present," he said. "It's very much appreciated - when it was first offered, things were a pretty dire situation up here and still is too but we've had a little bit of rain since then.

"It'll mean that people won't have to buy expensive feed to feed their stock and the stock prices were at rock bottom when this offer was made."

"People were having to make the decision whether to feed their livestock that had no return if you sold them or to destroy livestock."

He said they had no winter rain at Orroroo so they had not much feed. "There was no winter growth so the feed was short and not much of it," he said. "Most people had restocked after the previous drought so we're probably back to near enough to full numbers again.

"We haven't been declared drought area, but it's just been really difficult conditions over this year."

The Laura and Nelshaby Ag Bureau's involvement in this initiative cannot be overstated. Their dedication and commitment to supporting fellow farmers have been instrumental in orchestrating this relief effort.

Leanne and Kym Klemm, Laura, trucked up a load of hay. Picture by Kiara Stacey

Truck driver and farmer Henry Durrant, Huddleston, organiser David Humphris, Gladstone, administrator Phil Day, Gladstone, and driver Cody Robson, Georgetown. Picture by Kiara Stacey